Social Work Practice Education During and Beyond the Pandemic: A European Survey

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education moved to an online format throughout Europe and coped with many other challenges. Since practice education is a key component of social work education, the aim of the research project “SWooPEd—Social Work Practice Education in Times of Pandemics, and Beyond. Continuities, Changes and Innovations in Europe“ was to explore the continuities, evolutions, innovations, impacts and problems of the BA social work practice education programs in Europe, at the national and international level, in the pandemic context. A key activity of SWooPEd was a European survey: 150 schools of social work from 15 European countries responded to an online survey. The activities carried out as a substitute for conventional field practice education varied, but in most cases, they were continued throughout the academic year 2021–2022. When compared with the pre-pandemic period, assignments and assessment of students were similar during the pandemic, while the possibilities to achieve the skills and the interaction between practice supervisors and students were rather dissimilar. Overall, the changes adopted during the pandemic were perceived to have negatively influenced the quality of practice education, students’ academic performance and students’ participation in practice education activities. The least negative changes were perceived to refer to the access to virtual infrastructure for students, lecturers’ adaptation and use of online platforms by students, field supervisors and academic staff. The most negative perceived impact was on students’ wellbeing, skills and readiness for practice, and lecturers’ wellbeing. The least negatively perceived impact was on the interaction between students and field educators from faculty/school and on field practice educators. Schools of social work need to incorporate into their BA programs the positive changes adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic and, at the same time, support student’s wellbeing and skills development as the pillars of effective education and future practices.